FIXTITLE Bill Brown.docx
RAMBLING FEVER
Legend Nominee: Bill Brown
This Legend driver exemplifies true leadership within a profession known for constant development and change. With over forty years’ experience in the trucking industry, his principles of reasoning have always pushed him to the front of the line as a trusted adviser, with a helping hand.
In the beginning of his trucking career, a conversation between he and two gentlemen at a truck stop still resonated with him many years later. The time was set in the late 70’s, the drivers gathered together and exchanged hours of counsel, warnings, and trucking stories. During their prime, trucks were chain driven with rubber tires and open cabs. The evolution of the business and equipment from their starting point to the new millennial’s had advanced, but the passion to contribute wholeheartedly to the job as a professional truck driver was equally alike. Today when he speaks with drivers, he places himself in the same shoes as those seasoned drivers. He remembers the impact their words had on his future as a young protégé trying to learn the ropes. He thinks back on the courage he gained through their wisdom each time it’s his turn to speak with other drivers.
Over the course of Bill Brown’s journey as a truck driver, he combined the advice with his own experiences and created a career of success, achievements and influence. Born and raised in the Lone Star State of Texas, Bill is the youngest of twelve children. Though most of his siblings were out of the house by the time Bill could tag along, his upbringing still consisted of many factors that would later outline his life’s work.
With a purpose to discover his identity, immediately after graduating high school, the following Monday Bill joined the U.S. Marine Corps. At just 17 years old, he was spending his summer in boot camp at the U.S. Marine Corps training facility located in Parris Island, South Carolina. He went on to serve eight years in the Reserves.
“I felt that I needed to learn more… I needed to learn self-respect… I wanted to become a man. The best version I could be. And the military helped me in so many ways. Essentially, I learned how to keep my feet planted on the ground. I gained a sense of willpower, I learned discipline, and in doing so, I came into a level of maturity that I may never have found had I not enlisted. A lot of what I learned then are beneficial to trucking now. Like, respecting chain of command and demonstrating respect for others. Many people struggle with stuff like that and they end up going nowhere. It’s all about respect. Respect yourself, give respect, and earn respect.”
Bill’s desire to aid and comfort others led him to become a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Being able to provide assistance in situations regarding medical issues allowed him to be used as an instrument for the better of another. His mission had been fulfilled. However, he was having to work 18-hour work days to equal one day on the road as a truck driver. The long days presented fatigue and distress, ultimately making the switch to driving a truck full-time indisputable. He says, “I made more in one day driving than an entire week working as an EMT. I knew what I wanted to do versus what I needed to do, so I made the choice. Going over the road meant getting out and seeing the country. Plus, I was still able to help people along the way. Once I got to see what trucking had to offer, I’ve been doing it ever since. I got the rambling fever. I may never be rich doing this, but it’s a good living. I’ve been coast to coast and border to border.”
Throughout his career, Bill has illustrated a sort of command that can easily be recognized in his work ethic. As a positive role model, other drivers turn to him for encouragement, which he embraces as he reflects on the days he was once in their position. Whether by a phone call for advice or a quick visit at his house to fix something, Bill always makes himself available to help. “If I see someone on the side of the road, I have to stop and see if I can help. Anything, big or small. Even as a kid, I’ve always been this way. I think that’s why I wanted to be an EMT so bad. I have this urge to help people! I enjoyed the job, it just wasn’t financially feasible for me with a young family at home to provide for,” he said.
Bill had absolutely no connection to the trucking industry before making it his chosen profession. He had not a single mentor in the business to reach out to or even a reason to venture down that road. But none of the above kept him from being completely fascinated with all things trucking. Growing up, he had a knack for being mechanically inclined; constantly tinkering with tools and gadgets. As a teenager, with the help of his brother as the foreman, Bill landed a job at a body shop across from his high school. Through an educational work-release program, Bill was granted the opportunity to attend classes half a day, and the remaining hours spent working a trade.
At 19, Bill helped with repairs in the garage during the day. Then, in the evenings when needed he drove a wrecker to retrieve semi-trucks that had broken down. As a young kid, to an extent he grew up an only child with the rest of his brothers and sisters married or out of the house. He enjoyed the outdoors riding dirt bikes, or anything else within reach. As he grew older, his toys became larger. Often, he would take cars out into the country to “see what they would do” -according to Bill. “I would hot rod around. Nothing too dangerous, but I was a natural,” he said.
His years spent experimenting behind the wheel of various vehicles subsequently helped prep him for his first trucking job. When he started driving trucks it all came together. He was given the keys, the truck, and a thumbs up to hit the road. Being self-taught in a way provided job security. Bill was able to transition into trucks without difficulty. He says, “There were more gears to maneuver and I had to adapt to air brakes instead of hydraulic brakes. Just different applications and different ways, but still easy for me to handle.” Meaning, Bill was meant to drive a truck.
He began running over the road one week at a time. His first load up north was much different than traveling through Texas, due to the weather he had been accustomed to. “I was in Illinois on my first trip and it was snowing like crazy. Something we didn’t get much of. The biggest difference was learning to control my truck on snow and ice, but I figured it was the same science, so I applied the same instincts and adjusted what I knew about the vehicles to the given conditions. It was very exciting getting to see and do new things!” The work schedule is what took some time to become routine. Reminding himself that all of it played a part of the bigger picture, is what assured him to keep pushing forward.
Through years of learning and consistently asking questions, Bill states that being conscientious has been his golden rule. He says, “I’ve tried my best to do things right and of all the years out here, I’ve never had an accident. And it’s because that’s the one thing that has been repeated to me over and over, time and again: To be careful. As a truck driver, we must be thorough, safe, and extremely careful. It all boils down to that.” Having over 3 million safe miles to-date with experience pulling reefer, dry box, end dumps and wreckers, Bill has earned the credentials as an advocate to safe driving.
In 2000, Bill became an Owner Operator and purchased his first truck; a 1999 Freightliner Century. For ten years, Bill stayed on with a truckload carrier based in Springfield, Missouri. On November 1, 2010, he leased on with Oakley Trucking, Inc. The helpful support and friendly-atmosphere at Oakley are a few of the positive qualities his company offers. Oakley is a 100% Owner Operator company with flexible home-time, steady work year-round, and an annual pay raise. Bill continues, “The people in the office are great to work with! I have a good dispatcher that gets me where I want to go. For instance, say it’s the holiday and I have Dana with me and we want to go to New Orleans, he’ll get me a load down that way. Like right now, Dana has never been to Colorado, so he has us going out there.” When she is not traveling with Bill, he returns home almost every weekend.
Dana Martin and Bill first met when she was four years old, and he was five. The two grew up together, attending the same school and later dating in junior high. After graduating, time separated the pair and thirty-five years later the couple reunited. Five years strong, Dana joins Bill on the road a couple of weeks at a time. Before Oakley Trucking, Inc. learning to juggle work and home-time was Bill’s toughest battle. The harder your work, the less free time you get to enjoy life. He claims that he had to learn through trial and error, understanding what did and didn’t work for him. But everything, including his home-time has improved since joining Oakley. He adds, “They are family-oriented, I feel that makes all the difference. They understand that balance is necessary to keep your sanity.”
Bill’s most recent accomplishment was paying off his 2008 T660 Kenworth. He has had a total of five trucks throughout his career; he traded two and paid off three. I spoke with Dana and inquired her opinion as to why she feels Bill has been able to maintain his success after so many years. She said, “It’s his passion for what he does. When he does something, he gives his all. That’s the kind of man he is. He’s also very loyal and kind-hearted.” All the makings of an individual destined to make a difference.
As for Bill, he keeps it simple and says that paying attention is the ticket to the gravy train. No short cuts, stay aware of your surroundings, and drive as if you’re invisible, are a few examples in which he lives by. “If you drive like nobody around you can see you, then you have to avoid them to keep from getting hit. These days there are a lot of people everywhere you go, so if you drive like you’re invisible, then you’ll be completely out of harm’s way.” If that is the approach that has worked for him this long, I’d say he is on to something.
Among his most favored places to visit and memorable experiences on the road, he is unable to narrow them down to only one or two because there so are many: A sunrise coming up over the Appalachian Mountains; Being so far up a mountainside in West Virginia that you can look straight out the passenger window and realize you’re even in the sky with a 747 Jet; Traveling along a mountain in Colorado while a herd of elk migrate across the valley below… 300 of them, jumping 3 and 4 feet high through the snow. He says, “I had to pull over and just watch. It was amazing! There has been so many wow-occasions over the years.” Another: coming through Arizona, with a herd of wild horses running across the desert. Being present to witness these creatures in their own habitat is such a remarkable sight. It’s as if, they too have rambling fever.
Bill continues, “And then you add in the amazing people that I have met out here. You know, there is still a lot of good in this world! I get to see the goodness in the hearts of so many strangers. All of this is enough to restore your entire hope in the world. Yeah, the trucking industry has changed over the course since I first started. It’s not the same and definitely isn’t as fun, but there is so much to see and experience that only trucking has been able to provide. And for that alone, I love it!”
Bill wraps up our interview with his own conclusion stating, Love what you do and do what you love. If you don’t love it, there is no sense in doing it at all.